Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of Now You Know

Now You Know
emeraldfire avatar reviewed on


In Now You Know, Kitty Dukakis speaks her mind with the same uncompromising honesty and candor that characterized her appearances during the 1988 presidential campaign. Kitty Dukakis became a household name thanks to her husband Michael Dukakis' 1988 presidential campaign. She writes unflinchingly about her mother's coldness during her childhood and the harsh realities of political life. She also reveals her ongoing struggle to overcome clinical depression and her twenty year long addiction to diet pills and alcohol - an addiction which nearly sent her spiraling out of control, and very nearly destroyed her life in the process.

Kitty was a feisty and unconventional political wife, who spent many years as such. Now, she takes the reader behind the scenes and shows us what it is really like to be running on the national campaign trail - the emotional strains of such a campaign, with all its lack of privacy; which made Kitty absolutely petrified at the prospect of victory rather than defeat. She reveals the pressures imposed on the opponents from one of the most offensive "dirty tricks"- style campaigns in recent political history and in public memory.

I must say that I found Now You Know by Kitty Dukakis and Jane Scovell to be incredibly honest. This autobiography held absolutely nothing back about Kitty's life; both public and private; and revealed everything that she - and those around her - went through while she was in the midst of her addiction. I really felt for Kitty Dukakis, and sympathized with her struggle to overcome her addiction. I rejoiced with her on her recovery, but I know that it will be a lifelong quest for Kitty to remain sober. I would certainly give Now You Know by Kitty Dukakis and Jane Scovell an A+!